Generally, a belt conveyor system configured to transport baggage includes multiple conveyors aligned in series. A head pulley is provided at a front end of a conveyor and a tail pulley is provided at a rear end thereof. A drive combined with a roller device is provided at the center of the conveyor such that the drive can receive a driving force from a motor. Further, a belt provided at the tail pulley and the head pulley is rotated by power of the motor. Baggage placed on the belt is transported from the rear end at which the tail pulley is provided to the front end at which the head pulley is provided. After the baggage is transported to the front end of the conveyor, the conveyor transfers the baggage on the belt to another conveyor subsequent thereto at a speed corresponding to a rotation speed of the belt.
However, in a conventional belt conveyor system, multiple conveyors are consecutively aligned in series. Therefore, there is a gap between the multiple conveyors, specifically, between a tail pulley of a conveyor positioned at the former part and a head pulley of a conveyor positioned at the latter part. Thus, baggage may be jammed in the gap.
For example, when a bag is transported, a strap of the bag may be jammed in the gap.
If a strap of the bag is jammed in the gap, a downward frictional force is first applied to the strap of the bag by rotation of a belt of the conveyor positioned at the latter part. Then, the bag is transferred to a belt of the conveyor positioned at the former part. Thus, an upward frictional force and a pulling force are applied to the strap of the bag. Generally, such upward frictional force and pulling force enable the strap of the bag to get out of the gap before the strap of the bag is jammed in the narrowest point of the gap.
However, the strap of the bag may droop to be lower than the narrowest point of the gap by the downward frictional force before the upward frictional force and the pulling force are applied to the strap of the bag. In this case, the strap of the bag is applied with the upward frictional force and the pulling force for pulling up the strap of the bag. Even when such forces are applied, if the strap of the bag is twisted at a certain angle, the twisted strap of the bag cannot pass through the narrowest point of the gap and thus is often jammed therein.
As such, a part of the baggage may be jammed in the gap, and, thus, the baggage cannot be transported. Therefore, as for an airport conveyor, such a problem causes delays of flights. Further, if other baggage following the jammed baggage is caught and stacked, the overall transport of baggage may be interrupted. The whole baggage may be applied as an overload to a motor device, and, thus, the motor device may break down. Therefore, the entire belt conveyor system cannot be further used.